Adopt a Teacher

We did it....and now hold it every homecoming

Had T-shirts made up for the honoring teachers---our jerseys were a bit too tight for our staff---

Teachers wore the shirts on homecoming assembly and attended the game

Announcer recognized the teachers attending

Teachers pregamed and tailgated...nice tradition for us the past 3 seasons

I do something that I think is pretty cool and the faculty loves it.  Each year during camp, I have senior players choose a faculty member that had an impact on their life - any grade level.  They do this privately.  I then invite all the teachers without telling them who selected them to a pre-game practice.  Before practice the players stand up and tell the teachers what they mean to them - it can get emotional.  The players present the teachers with their game jersey to wear in school that Friday.  During the game the PA announcer, announces the player and their teacher.  It unites the faculty and players get a kick out of it.

We did it. We started out doing jerseys but when a 140 lb running back asks a 300 lb female English teacher things get weird. After that we did, T-shirts. We would have players ask the teacher on Monday of a given home game. We didn't do homecoming because we felt more teachers are involved that week anyway. We did it at the beginning of the year to get teachers and staff involved a little earlier in the season. Players asked the teacher on Monday. Teachers came to practice Thursday and players told what that teacher has meant to them and their education. Teacher ate pregame meal with their player Friday then came to the game. After the pregame meal, they were no longer with the team.

It was pretty cool and the teachers loved it.

Saw a cool version of this from an opponent. They called it "Shirt off my back Night". Seniors walked out with the Teacher that had the greatest impact on them in high school. Each Teacher wore a shirt with the players name and number on the back. PA Announcer read out a statement by the kid on why the teacher was inspiring to them. The player then walked the teacher to midfield. Had all the teachers line up at midfield before the game to get a final public congratulations. Pretty cool.

We did something similar to a lot of what the previous posters said, seniors pick the teacher that has inspired them the most, is asked to write a short blurb about them, and the teacher's that have been chosen serve as our honorary captains for that particular game. In between quarters, the PA announcer reads the blurbs and I remember at some point the player presenting their teacher with a t shirt.

We have all our Varsity players pick a teacher that has impacted them in some way (or whose class they know will be tough so they want to get on their good side) to wear their away jersey. I email the entire staff a few days ahead of time and let them know what will be going on. I give the teachers only a few instructions:
   1. if you accept a jersey, please come to the game that night wearing your athlete's jersey
   2. please do NOT wash the jersey. Send it back to me on Monday
   3. if possible, come onto the field after the game and take pictures with your athlete
This is my fist year at this school. We did it this year on a pep rally Friday and the teachers went nuts. The school admin took a picture after the pep rally of all the teachers and athletes and put on the school website.

As awesome as it is to do once or twice a season, I would recommend stopping there as there are always 1-2 teachers you have to hunt down for jerseys. lol

Love the ideas... but how do you think you'd handle a small school? We're pretty small so every year the same teacher/staff would be selected. And if every senior picks a teacher, there won't be too many not selected. Thoughts on how you'd handle this... What about the team selecting a couple of teachers as a whole? Would that devalue the experience?

The entire district - including asst coaches, secretaries, custodians, counselors, - basically all school personnel.  It is a thought-provoking and reflection-based exercise on their part, which provides more meaning.  I emphasize this when we introduce it.

Our players will have a few teacher/staff members in mind before we make selections.  We will list all the teachers/staff members on the white board and cross them off as they get selected.  Essentially, we have a teacher draft.

We did a "teacher of the game" each home game chosen by the players each week. (can be any teacher k-12 that had a positive impact on their life) Team votes on teachers nominated by the seniors and they get to be on the sideline during the game. Really lets the teachers buy into their student athletes. Can also change a teachers view of athletes and coaches being on the sideline on a Friday night compared to just being in the stands.

The cute single one. Sure it wasn’t the coaches who made the selection?

Not getting picked at the 1st place. Interrupting their time 2nd place.

Someone is always going to be upset, especially on a teaching staff. I think you have to do a cost-benefit analysis. If the upset person is the bitter-mad-at-the-world teacher whose three biggest hobbies are petting cats and complaining about what's wrong in the world over a lonely glass of wine each night, then I really wouldn't worry much. If the offended person is an admin or has a direct tie to the admin you may have to reconsider the program. 

From my experiences with programs like these the teachers that are drawn into support the program far outweigh the teachers that are upset for whatever reason. Also those upset would have probably found a reason to be upset with your program anyway.

I had a lady one year that called me every time a kid forgot a pencil. I bought her a 100 pencils and said "okay we should be good on pencils; just let them grab one when they come in if they need one and it should get rid of any distractions in class." She said "no, that won't teach them any responsibilities." I said "well I guess I will just remove them from the team next time they don't have a pencil. Then you can find a solution to stop distractions in your class as well as teach them responsibility." She gasped and was shocked and said "Oh my they would be out of control if you didn't keep them in line."

There are just some teachers that can't be satisfied. I don't think you can avoid things you think will benefit your program to appease this group. 

We have each player choose one teacher who has made a positive impact on them. This can be any teacher they have ever had. We notify the teachers on Monday and invite them to the game. We provide food for them before the game and recognize them at halftime. We limit any one teacher to two players. We usually have 35-45 on our roster, so we end up recognizing 30 or so teachers each year. We ask them to let us know if they can't be there. We have had two that didn't show up and didn't tell us they wouldn't be there, so we have made them ineligible to be recognized going forward. Most of our teachers are very appreciative of the recognition and are very excited to be there. Of course most of the ones we recognize come to the games anyway.